Harley Benton 7 string

[velvetkevorkian]

Probably not one for the purists, but a 35" scale neck through 7 string for just over £500 new. Looks pretty cool, and while the headstock is still a bit clunky looking the string pull looks sensible.

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_bz_7000_ii_nt.htm

[Thump]

Neck through with an ebony board for £500 is pretty nice. It certainly looks nice. 

 

The extra strings are not doing it for me , four is more than enough to contend with.

 

I wonder who they are aiming it at? Its kind of got an ultra widdly turbo shreddy tap vibe

[velvetkevorkian]

I reckon their demographic is:

- one third aspiring fusion shred masters

- one third metal dudes who can't afford a Dingwall but want to tune to low F#

- one third a bit of both

 

( I do own a 7 string bass, and would fall into the last third fwiw).

 

There is also a 34" scale 4 string https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_bz_4000_ii_nt.htm

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by velvetkevorkian
formatting

[kodiakblair]

4 minutes ago, Thump said:

I wonder who they are aiming it at?

Folk that missed buying them the first time around.

 

The BZ series launched back in August 2014.  There was a thread about them though I think only 3 BC members actually owned one;  I had the 4 string and a fella from NZ had the 6 .

 

Mind is a bit hazy tonight 😁

[Thump]

Ah crap , GAS is already biting bad enough...

 

Strangely enough , this has been an exclusively Scottish thread so far

[neil___lien]

I used to own a 6 string version of it.

It was a good bass, very versatile within the "modern" realm of bass sounds. Really heavy though. I could achieve a very low action on most strings except for the high C string that had the saddle resting flush on the bridge, which kinda made the string be in the way constantly. Super tight B string due to the 35" scale (or so the experts tend to say), sounded great & chordal playing was very doable. 

I am no virtuoso though. Ended up selling to finance another more expensive bass.

But i do recommend it. I had three or four basses back then & i would constantly play that one. 

[LeftyJ]

That looks surprisingly good! A bit of Peavey (Cirrus), a bit of MTD (not just the knob layout). I like it, and would happily rock a 5-string version or a first venture into 6. This one is over the top for me I'm afraid, and the wrong way around at that! 

[uk_lefty]

13 hours ago, Thump said:

 

I wonder who they are aiming it at? Its kind of got an ultra widdly turbo shreddy tap vibe

"Influencers" perhaps? 

 

Have to agree with others, it looks lovely but there are a few too many strings for me also. 

[Daz39]

It looks halfway between an MTD and the Ibanez BTB. Hmm - interesting, although not if it's heavy.

[Cato]

Generally when I've seen clips of people using basses with more than 6 strings they tend to be doing the two hand tapping quasi classical music thing that in some ways has more in common with playing a piano than a guitar.

[velvetkevorkian]

1 hour ago, Daz39 said:

It looks halfway between an MTD and the Ibanez BTB. Hmm - interesting, although not if it's heavy.

My guess is that it will be pretty heavy...

[kodiakblair]

2 minutes ago, velvetkevorkian said:

My guess is that it will be pretty heavy...

My 4 string was about 12lb. OK, materials have change but that won't shave off a huge amount. 

[TheGreek]

I am able to say that I do not (currently) want one.

[velvetkevorkian]

7 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

My 4 string was about 12lb. OK, materials have change but that won't shave off a huge amount. 

Probably twice as much material in the neck and hardware on the 7 too...

[kodiakblair]

10 hours ago, velvetkevorkian said:

Probably twice as much material in the neck and hardware on the 7 too...

There was a thread on the guitar forum 'seven string. org'  about them, 50 odd posts. 

 

Not a peep about the weight 🤣

[Newfoundfreedom]

I thought the BZ models had been discontinued a couple of years ago. I always fancied the 4 string version of this. Hopefully they'll reappear as well. 

[velvetkevorkian]

5 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

I thought the BZ models had been discontinued a couple of years ago. I always fancied the 4 string version of this. Hopefully they'll reappear as well. 

They're doing 4s and 7s only this time round, so far anyway https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_bz_4000_ii_nt.htm

[tauzero]

On 04/10/2023 at 07:28, kodiakblair said:

There was a thread on the guitar forum 'seven string. org'  about them, 50 odd posts. 

 

Not a peep about the weight 🤣

 

Just thought I'd register on there and I'm buggered if I can work out the answer to the Captcha question, "Our guitars are frequently tuned in...". I've tried the obvious, B standard, B, E, BEADGBE, Drop D, Drop A, and I haven't a bloody clue what the answer is. Can anyone tell me?

[tauzero]

8 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

Just thought I'd register on there and I'm buggered if I can work out the answer to the Captcha question, "Our guitars are frequently tuned in...". I've tried the obvious, B standard, B, E, BEADGBE, Drop D, Drop A, and I haven't a bloody clue what the answer is. Can anyone tell me?

 

I found it, in a thread in that forum about what the answer to the captcha is, and for anyone who'd like to know, it's "low b". Mind you, from going through that thread, I'm not sure that it's that great a forum...

[velvetkevorkian]

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I found it, in a thread in that forum about what the answer to the captcha is, and for anyone who'd like to know, it's "low b". Mind you, from going through that thread, I'm not sure that it's that great a forum...

Ha, it's definitely quite a specific niche... some people are ok but it is largely aggressive young American metal guitarists with too much time and money on their hands.

[binky_bass]

Only 7 strings? I must assume this is a child's bass... REAL bassists play at least an 8 or 9 string. True bassists play a 10 strings. 😜

 

*Runs away and hides under the stairs*

[velvetkevorkian]

13 minutes ago, binky_bass said:

Only 7 strings? I must assume this is a child's bass... REAL bassists play at least an 8 or 9 string. True bassists play a 10 strings. 😜

 

*Runs away and hides under the stairs*

Like I said, not one for the purists 😉

[Woodinblack]

On 04/10/2023 at 08:13, velvetkevorkian said:

They're doing 4s and 7s only this time round, so far anyway https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_bz_4000_ii_nt.htm

 

That is an odd collection, 4s and 7s, but no 5s or 6s.

[velvetkevorkian]

Looks like they are now doing 5 string and 6 string models. For some reason the 4 and 5 strings are 34" and the 6 and 7s are 35", according to the specs?

[crazycloud]

I want to try the 6, even though it's a 35, but I can't justify another 6.